Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1887-09-03


once more stood astonished at the simple and
yet overpowering grandeur of the place.
The hall is, as we afterwards learned, $50
feet long BY so wide. and has a magnificent
arched rolf of carved wood. Down the en-
tire length of the building there are on either
side, and at distance Of twenty feet from
the wall, slender shafts of black marble
springing sheer to the roof, beautifully fiuted
and with carved capitals At one end Of
this great place which these pillars support Is
the group Of which have already spoken as
executed by the king Rademas TO commemor-
ate his building of the staircase; and really,
when we had time to admire it, its loneliness
almost struck US dumb. The group, Of which
the figures are in white, and the rest in black
marble, is about half as large again as life,
and represents a young man of noble coun-
tenance and form sleeping heavily upon a
couch One arm is carelessly thrown over
the side Of this couch, and his head reposes
upon the other, its curling locks partially hid
ing it. Bending ever him, her hand resting
on his forehead, is draped female form of
such white loveliress as to make the beholder's
breath stand still. And as for the calm glory
that shines upon her perfect face-well, can
never hope to describe it. But there it rests
like the shadow Of an angels smile; and
power, love and divinity all have their part
in it. Her eyes are fixed upon the sleeping
youth, and perhaps the most extraordinary
thing about this beautiful work is the success
with which tie artist has succeeded in depict
ing on the sleeper's worn and weary face the
sudden rising OF a new and spiritual thought
as the spell begins to work within his mind.
You can see that an inspiration is breaking
In upon the darkness Of the mans soul, as the
dawn breaks in upon the darkness Of the
night 1t is glorious piece Of statuary, and
none but genius could have conceived it
Between each of the black marble columns is
some such group of figures, some allegorical,
and some representing the persons and wives
Of deceased monarchs or great men; but none
of them, in our opinion, comes up to the one
have described, although several are from
the hand of the great sculptor and engineer,
King Rademas.
In the exact center of the hall was a solid
mass of black marble about the size Of a
baby's arm chair, which it rather resembled
in appearance This, as we afterwards
learned, was the sacred stone of this remark
able people, and on it their monarchs laid
their hand after the ceremony of coronation,
ests of the empire, and to maintain its Gus
toms, traditions and laws.
At the end of the hall is dais spread with
rich carpets, on which two thrones are set
side by side. These thrones are shaped like
great chairs, and made of solid gold. The
seats are richly cushioned, but the backs are
left bare, and on each is carved the emblem
of the sun, shooting out his fiery rays in all
directions. The footstools are golden lions
couchant, with yellow topazes set in them for
eyes. There are no other gems about them.
The place is lighted by numerous but mar
row windows, placed high up, cut on the
principle of the loopholes to be seen in an
Gent castles, but innocent of glass, which was
evidently unknown here.
Such is brief description of this splendid
hall in which we now found ourselves, COM
piled, of course, from our subsequent knowl-
edge of it. On this occasion we had but little
time tor observation, for when we entered we
perceived that large number of men were
gathered together in front Of the two thrones,
which were unoccupied. The principal among
them were seated on carved wooden chairs
ranged to the right and the left of the
thrones, but not in front of them, and were
dressed in white TUNES, with various en-
broideries and different colored edgings, and
armed with the usual pierced and gold inlaid
swords To judge from the dignity of their
appearance, they seemed one and all to be in
divduals of very great importance Behind
each of these great men was small knot Of
followers and attendants
S ated by themselves, in a little group to
the left of the throne, were six men Of a diff
ferent stamp. Instead of wearing the
ordinary kilt they were clothed in long robes
of pure white linen, with the same symbol of
the sun that is to he seen on the back of the
chairs, emblazoned in gold thread upon the
breast This garment was grit up at the
waist with simple golden curb like chain,
from which hung long elliptic plates OF the
same metal, fashioned in shiny scales like
those of fish, that, as their wearers moved,
jingled and reflected the light. They were
all men Of mature age, and of severe and
impressive cast of features, which was rem
dered still more imposing by the long boards
they wore
The personality of one individual among
them, however, impressed us at once. He
seemed to stand out among his fellows and
refuse to be overlooked He was very old
so at least--and extremely tall. with long
snow white beard that hung nearly to his
waist His features were aquiline and deeply
cut, and his eyes were gray and cold looking.
The heads of the others were bare, but this
man wore round cap entirely covered with
gold embroidery, from which we judged that
he was person Of great importance; and,
indeed, l afterward discovered that he was
Agon, the high priest of the country. As we
approached, all these men, including the
priests, rose and bowed to us with the great
est courtesy, at the same time placing the
two fingers across the lips in salutation. Then
soft footed attendants advanced from between
the pillars, bearing seats which were placed
in a line in front of the thrones. We three
sat down, Alphonse and Umslopogaas stand
ing behind us. Scarcely had we done so
when there came a blare of trumpets from
some passage to the right, and a similar
blare from tie left Next man with long
white wand of ivory appeared just in front
Of the right hand throne, and cried out